A shortage of tenured
teachers at UND's College of Nursing could worsen, causing the college
to cut enrollment and produce fewer nurses in the midst of a national
nurse shortfall.Potential cuts in enrollment at the college are a worst-case
scenario said Elizabeth Nichols, dean of the College of Nursing.

The college has reached a
tentative agreement with the Grand Forks Department of Public Health to
provide a nursing instructor for UND's fall semester. Other temporary
instructors are expected to fill the remaining five open tenured
positions this fall.

We certainly have enough instructors to teach the students, Nichols
said. We're down in numbers, but we have enough to teach.

Certainly,
there's a real concern with faculty trained
nurses, who are aging like everyone else, she added.

Besides positions open because of retirements, nursing instructors
can receive higher salaries in the private field, Nicholas said.
Salaries haven't remained competitive.

The college doesn't expect the shortage to continue, but with North
Dakota's climate it's difficult to attract new teachers, she said.

Certainly it's conceivable, she said of cutting enrollment, now at an
estimated 350 students, counting both undergraduate and graduate
students. There are also 416 pre-nursing students at UND, about half of
whom could become enrolled in the college.

Each year, more students apply at the college than are accepted, she
said, but if the college has to cut its enrollment, it could cause a
domino effect in the health care field, which is already experiencing a
shortage of nurses.

The agreement with Public Health is not yet contractual; the City
Council is expected to decide on the temporary agreement when it meets
Monday.

If approved, the $7,500 contract between UND and the city would
provide an instructor from August to December.

It's a win-win situation for Public Health and the college, said Don
Shields, director of the Grand Forks Department of Public Health, which
already provides community training services for future nurses in the
UND program. It is (temporary) unless they want to pursue it further.